Sacha Dalton

Sacha Dalton

Spring saw a number of announcements relating to the taxation of the digitalised economy. The CIOT remains engaged with the debate on which governments and the international tax community are firmly focused.

On 28 February 2018, HMRC launched a digital portal for the corporate interest restriction (CIR) aimed at enabling taxpayers to appoint a reporting company and for the reporting company to be able to submit an interest restriction return. Companies can use this portal by logging on with the same credentials that are used to complete their corporation tax return.

Following an announcement at the Autumn Budget, the government published a consultation document on Royalties Withholding Tax on 1 December 2017. Following a meeting with HMRC and HMT, the CIOT responded to these proposals, reiterating our view that, following the US tax reforms, which occurred after the announcement, the proposed measures would not raise any significant revenue for the Exchequer, but would result in significant costs for HMRC (as well as taxpayers) in terms of compliance.

The CIOT has engaged with the government in the ongoing debate about taxation of the digital economy following the publication of a position paper on the digital economy and an autumn Budget proposal for a new royalty withholding tax.